Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

We've just got an email which points out that there is going work for a new operating system called RevLin OS. This is more of an announcement, because there are no downloads available for now, so I couldn't test it. But I really liked the concept - I must say that it sounds much better than Chrome OS, so I decided to share this news with you. Why better than Chrome OS? Read on!

RevLin OS base is built upon a new kernel called PopCorn which is derived from a re-written version of the well established linux kernel, while still maintaining full binary support for applications and drivers allowing for vast hardware support. The Desktop environment (RaVe) is coded in HTML5, CSS3 and a customized version of the ExtJs library with a brand new widget set, and allows for applications to have backends coded in languages such a C, C++ and java and simple porting of already existant applications. This is the part which I really like: if the Desktop environment is coded in HTML5, CSS3 and ExtJS, it means it doesn't take very much for it to look awesome. However, RevLin OS will not be like the other operating systems which rely on HTML5, CSS3 and JS - the data will not be stored in the cloud but locally and integrated with the cloud so you can access data from anywhere, but you don't rely on an internet connection.

RevLin OS aims for a very short boot time and responsive system that works just as you do. Also, in the future there are plans to integrate the OnLive game streaming service into RevLin's market place which which we have named the RStore, along with digital content (including Ebooks) purchases provided by Amazon.

Update: I've sent a few questions to the RevLin OS developers (regarding the package management, how existing Linux apps will work and if RevLin OS is based on any existing Linux distribution, etc.) and they were kind enough to reply to the email, so I will post some of its content below (I hope they won't mind):

RevLin is not Linux per say, its not just another distribution in any sense of the phrase it is an entirely new os which uses the core elements of linux as its foundation, it will run all applications that are compatible trough Linux and an GUI for the application can be made easily by the developer using our drag and drop interface builder (ala plam's ares) or once the gtk/gt library is installed can use gtk or qt for the interface just like a normal linux app. The whole OS is built from source and is not based on any distribution of Linux. Its something new and allows us not to rely on other, to make improvements to the OS but it being open source bug fixes and changes as well feature requests can be uploaded directly to us. Package management uses a format called .ins which are installation files and you have .app for executing an application. In a .app file you have all of the apps small dependencies and any bigger ones are installed to the library directory in the users home folder meaning you dont need to find a million and one dependencies to install and use an application. Another big change is the layout of the filesystem, instead of hundreds of sub folder in / you have 3 /library /system (which contains drivers , kernel and other frameworks) and /home. a standard on root use can not and will not need to access anything outside there home folder and this allows us to ensure that nothing can get broken and any applications that are, in the unlikely event, infected with malware or are in them self malicious are trapped in a sand box environment rendering them harmless. I hope that this helps you see where we are and where we are going with the OS.

That's all the information available for now. Hopefully we'll be able to test RevLin OS very soon.

Now, about the question in the title: would you use an operating system such as RevLin OS?